Cylinder sleeve replacement on 3.7

[408mike]

Hello, doing an overhaul on a 2007 canyon sle 4x4 with 3.7l atlas inline 5 with 220k and one cylinder liner is cracked and I am looking for a solution. I have a sleeve puller on the way the Kent Moore puller and installer, and I have previously read the thread on this forum concerning sleeves for the 4.2L. If I am correct the 4.2L is essentially the same as the 3.5 inline 5 from 05-06 canyons but with an extra cylinder yes? So the sleeve mentioned ( https://www.gmpartscenter.net/oem-parts/gm-engine-cylinder-sleeve-88984239?origin=pla) won't work. Got my hopes up now, is there a replacent sleeve from GM available for the 3.7? What are my options?

Also I ran the idea of running the truck on 4 cylinders as a worst case scenario by the owner and he's agreeable, I'm wondering if the following would work, weld a disk into the sleeve to seal it and weld the intake and exhaust ports closed on the head (so the o2 sensor won't enrich the other cylinders due to the extra o2) and disable the injector for the affected cylinder. Also I would cut the connecting rod right above the con rod bearing, weigh the removed material and weld onto the stub a chuck of metal such that the crank will still have correct rotating mass.

Thoughts? Any input appreciated, this is driving me nuts. These are unicorn engines and finding parts blocks etc is not possible considering how much they cost.

I did order a melling cylinder repair sleeve from rock auto but from the thread I read here it won't work without boring out the block. I contacted my local machine shop and they turned down the job.

 

[Mooseman]

Probably not a good idea running the 5 cylinder as a 4. You would get a massive crank imbalance a missing fire in the firing order. I can't see how this is doable.

This is just me but wouldn't it be easier to just try to find a good used engine? If a sleeve cracked, there has to be a reason and possibly the block is compromised because, or as a result, of it.

 

[408mike]

I contacted GM and found the correct sleeve, the only one in the country, in Sturgis SD. it's being sent overnight.

 

[408mike]

Probably not a good idea running the 5 cylinder as a 4. You would get a massive crank imbalance a missing fire in the firing order. I can't see how this is doable.

This is just me but wouldn't it be easier to just try to find a good used engine? If a sleeve cracked, there has to be a reason and possibly the block is compromised because, or as a result, of it.

Well the cylinder cracked because of an accident, I reassembled the motor after valve job and timing chain replacement and a small bolt dropped down a spark plug well but I lost track of where it went. I am half deaf. I searched for it blew all 5 cylinders out with compressed air used a magnet flashlight turned the motor over several times by hand, no sign of it. I had the head and valve cover already back on and did not want to tear the motor down as I was not sure the bolt actually fell in a cylinder.

Well it did. And the little bustard managed to evade me, when I started the motor for a split second I could hear the bolt bouncing around and killed the motor immediately. It ran not even 2-3 seconds but that was enough to bend all four valves and it knocked the piston cock eyed and it was digging into the liner. If I had run the motor perhaps a few seconds more the block would have cracked. As is I replaced the valves springs piston and rod and went ahead with a full rebuild, new mains and con rod bearings new rings all cylinders etc. I found some metal debris lodged under crank main #1 so I've torn the entire motor apart the head etc flushing the engine to be as sure as I can that this is a good repair.

Gm charged me $240 for the sleeve, a replacement block being $900 plus shipping used junkyard motors going for 4k, local pick n pull never ever ever has exactly the engine I need, like I said unicorn truck!

Being my first overhaul I'm consuming information as best I can. Parts are so expensive I literally have one shot and can't screw it up

Which is fine with me.